Portable illuminable mirror



May 13, 195s TL VAN E sLEY PORTABLE ILLUMINABLE MIRROR Filed Feb. 13,1957 'ff /6 /7 22M /7 [6 28 32 /22 1I. l t f /23 22/1, /2

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UnitedStates Patent C PORTABLE ILLUMIN ABLE MIRROR Theodore Van Esley,Detroit, Mich. Application February 13, 1957, Serial No. 640,015

2 Claims. (Cl. 24.0-4.2)

The present invention relates to a portable pocket-size accessory forindividual or personal use and has reference in particular to aself-contained illuminable portable mirror and which, in addition, mayserve the purposes of a flashlight.

Illuminable vanity pocket and purse mirrors are not, asis well-known,new. Many and varied styles, types and forms have been devised andappropriated for use by others working in this eld of endeavor.Therefore, it is common practice to utilize a flashlight bulb or lamp,dry cell batteries and a switch-controlled circuit in a casing or thelike in a manner to project a beam of light upon the person and to thusenable her to see her image in a reflecting mirror.

An object in the matter at hand is to contribute to and advance this artand to do so by way of a structurally and functionally distinct adaptionin which it is believed that the manufacturing needs and repairrequirements and economies of manufacturers will be met but, what ismore important, the needs of users of such accessories will beellectually met.

Looking toward these accomplishments a self-contained portablepocket-size construction is used. Briefly, this comprises a box-likecase having an open front and embodying non-transparent bottom, top,back and side walls defining a compartment, said bottom and side wallshaving aligned horizontal and vertical grooves situated adjacent andparallel with said open front, said top wall having a fixed rearwardhalf-portion and a forward half-portion, the latter being hingedlymounted on the rearward half-portion and providing a lid, the upper endsof the vertical grooves opening through the upper end portions of theside walls and being covered by the lid when the lid is closed, a mirrorslidingly and removably fitted and retained in said grooves and coveringin part said open front, a glass panel coplanar with and complemental tosaid mirror, said panel being slidingly and removably keyed in upperportions of said vertical grooves and being held against displacement bysaid lid, and a source of illumination operatively mounted in saidcompartment and including tlashlight batteries and a miniature lamp, thelatter supported in cooperating alignment with said glass panel.

The concept also features a tilted or inclined reflector which ismounted in the upper or top portion of the compartment and which has anopening which is lined or bushed with a collar. The collar serves tofrictionally mount the base of the lamp or bulb and renders the latteraccessible for replacement by simply opening the lid and lifting out thefrosted glass panel.

Other objectives, features and advantages will become more readilyapparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, wherein like numerals are employed to designate likeparts throughout the views:

Fig. l is a perspective View of the complete and portable 2and'illuminable mirror construction in accordance with the instantinvention.

Fig. 2 is a view on a slightly enlarged scale which may be thought of asa central vertical section of Fig. l looking in the direction from rightto left.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the plane of the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective View.

Referringnow to the drawings and particularly to Fig. 4 the casing orbox-like case is denoted by the numeral 6 andcomprises bottom wall 8,vertical side walls 10 and back wall 12. The top wall is sectional andcomprises a fixed rearward half section 14 and a forward half section 16hinged at 17 to the section 14, suitable arcuate springs 20 beingmounted and used to normally force the forward or lid section 16 to itsclosed position.

As best seen in Fig. 4 the mirror 13 is removably and slidably keyed inthe cooperating horizontal and vertical grooves 19 and 21 respectively.These grooves are situated adjacent to the open front and in factparallel therewith. Moreover the upper ends of the vertical grooves openthrough the upper edge portion of the vertical walls 10 to allow themirror to be slipped in and keyed in place or lifted and removed, as thecase may be. The upper portion of the grooves 21 also servetoaccommodate an insertable and removable window which is preferably afrosted glass panel 22 and whose lower edge 23 rests atop the upper edge24 of the mirror. The glass panel and mirror are coplanar and the upperedge of the panel is llush with the upper edges of the side walls 10 andis held against displacement by the portions of the spring biasedhingedly mounted lid 16, in an obvious manner. The numeral 26 designatesa rectangular fixedly mounted retlector which is suspended between theinterior surfaces of the side walls 10 and which is slanted so that itinclines forwardly and downwardly. It will be noticed that thisrellector is directly behind the frosted panel. Also and as best shownin Fig. 2 it has a centrally disposed hole therein to accommodate aflanged bushing or collar 2S which serves to friction-tit and retain theinsertable and removable flashlight bulb or lamp 30. That is to say, thesmooth portion of the screw base 32 of the bulb is tted and held inplace as shown. In fact, the base goes through and beyond the hole whereit is in engagement with a contact element 34 suitably mounted in thecornpartment.

There is a substantially U-shaped bracket 36 provided and screwed inplace as shown in the drawings and this has upper and laterally directedend portions 38 and 40 provided with appropriate Contact 42 engaging therespective end portions of the insertable and removable dry cell orbattery 44. Additional spring clips 46 are attached to the bracket toretain the dry cells removably in place. The batteries, contacts andother components of the circuit are appropriately wired together in themanner shown. This permits the use of a switch button 48 mounted in asuitable frame 50 cooperating with a plate 52 having terminals 54 towhich the wires are connected, all as brought out in Fig. 3 of thedrawings. The idea here is to provide suitable flashlight means in thecompartment of the case and to have it appropriately controlled by ahandy switch. It seems sufficient to cover this as flashlight means withbatteries bracketed' in place and suitably wired together and having acontrolling switch. However, novelty is thought to reside in thesupporting on the miniature flashlight bulb or lamp in the bushed holeat the center of the slanted reflector 26.

By opening up the lid and removing the frosted panel 22 access may behad to the bulb to either insert or remove it as the case may be. Byusing a frosted window panel or glass instead of a clear window thelight beam from the bulb is distributed and a more satisfactoryoperation is had. Not only thisbut undesirable light glare is reduced toa minimum.

The specific components herein disclosedconstitute a combination andarrangement of lcooperating parts which, conjointly considered,contribute to theiproduction of a highly practical compact andconvenient mirror with a source of illumination and reflection for nightuse and for equally etlicient use during the day.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An illuminable self-contained portable pocket-size mirror comprisinga box-like case having an open front and embodying non-transparentbottom, top, back and side walls dening a compartment, said bottom andside walls having aligned horizontal and vertical grooves situatedadjacent and parallel with said open front, said top Wall having a xedrearward half-portion and -a forward half-portion, the latter beinghingedly mounted on the rearward half-portion and providing a lid, theupper ends of the vertical grooves opening through the upper endportions of the side Walls and being covered by the lid when the lid isclosed, a mirror slidingly and removably fitted and retained in saidgrooves and covering in part said open front, a glass panel coplanarwith and complemental to said mirror, said panel being slidingly andremovably keyed in upper portions of said vertical grooves and beingheld against displacement by said lid, and a source of illuminationoperatively mounted in said compartment and including ilashlightbatteries and a miniature lamp, the latter supported in cooperatingalignment with said glass panel, said glass panel being situated at thetop portion of said compartment and being frosted, and a reector mountedin the top portion of said compartment directly behind said panel andsaid lamp 4l being removably supported by said reflector, said reectorbeing inclined andthus slanted forwardly and downwardly and providedcentrally with a hole which is bushed by a collar, the base of said lampbeing frictiontted into said collar and thus supported in its operatingposition, said lid being spring-biased and normally held in its closedposition, the lower edge of said panel resting atop the upper edge ofthe mirror and the upper edge of said panel being iiush with the upperedges of said side Walls.

2. In a structure of the class described, an open front case, bracketand clip means mounted therein to accommodatingly support insertable andremovable batteries, the top wall of said case embodying a spring biasednormally closed manually openable and closable lid, an oblique angledreector spanning the upper portion of the compartment and supportedbetween the upper portions of the side wall of the case and providedwith a central hole having a collar lining the sam-e, a contact elementmounted in the compartment in alignment with the hole in said reflector,and a miniature flashlight bulb having a base portion removably fittedand frictionally held in said collar, said base portion being projectedthrough and beyond the collar to engage said contact, the interiorsurfaces of said side walls have vertical grooves providing keyways, amirror slidably and removably held in portions of the keyways, and aninsertable and removable frosted glass panel removably seated in theupper portion of the keyways and registering with said reector andhaving its upper edge ush with the upper edges of the side walls andheld against displacement by portions of the lid overlying the portionsof the grooves opening through said upper edges.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,123,319 Thompson July 12, 1938 2,255,312 Dawson Sept. 9, 1941 FOREIGNPATENTS 464,671 Italy 1951

